


Lavender

by ButtKickingForGoodness



Series: Time and the World do not Stand Still [2]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Ableism, Early in Canon, M/M, but it definitely deserves a tag, idk exactly how to tag that, internalized ableism, negative interactions with law enforcement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 08:51:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20739542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButtKickingForGoodness/pseuds/ButtKickingForGoodness
Summary: Sammy sighs and shoves his hands deeper into his pockets. He’s been in King Falls for less than 24 hours, and it already seems like the situation is the worst it could possibly be.





	Lavender

Sammy sighs and shoves his hands deeper into his pockets. He glares angrily at the grocery shelving, but the selection stubbornly refuses to change. He’s been in King Falls for less than 24 hours, and it already seems like the situation is the worst it could possibly be.

Glancing left and right, he surreptitiously wipes a tear from his cheek before staring at the shelf again. He’s almost out of the lavender tea that Jack had secretly gotten him, and he desperately needs more. There’s barely half a shelf’s worth of tea in the entire grocery store, and none of it looks remotely like the tea that Jack used to bring home. Most of it is cheap black tea, the kind that Sammy hasn’t seen since it was piled in bowls in his college dining hall. There are only five herbal teas on the entire shelf, all from the cheapest brand. Refusing to drink chamomile on principle, Sammy grabs a box of peppermint and shoves it in his basket. Apparently even a single, plain rooibos tea is too exotic for this small-town grocer.

The rest of his shopping continues without incident, and Sammy is just dropping his bags in the backseat of his car when he catches sight of a familiar figure crossing the parking lot. Swearing softly, he turns and busies himself with rearranging the bags in hopes that the man will pass him by, but it would seem that his already shit luck is continuing to hold.

Sammy rearranges his face into a terse smile and turns around. Maybe if he starts the conversation off well it will be less horrible.

“Deputy Troy,” he says, returning his hands to his pockets. “What can I do for you?”

Troy greets him with an honest-to-goodness tip of his hat and an apologetic expression.

“Hey there, Sammy. Just wanted to check in with you after yesterday,” he says.

Sammy leans back against the trunk of his car, feigning nonchalance. “Look, Troy, I told you everything I know about Tim Jensen’s call last night. Ben gave you the recording of the show, right?”

“I ain’t here to talk to you about Tim, Sammy.” Troy’s voice has gone soft, but it doesn’t help.

Sammy’s stomach plummets. “What’s done is done, Deputy. Now if you don’t mind, I’d rather not talk about it.” Sammy turns around and goes to shut his car door.

A hand lands on his shoulder, and he startles, flinching violently.

“Look, just give me a chance to apologize,” Troy says, graciously ignoring the flinch, and Sammy clenches his jaw. His heart is hammering against his ribs, but Sammy does his best to ignore it and jams his thumbs in his pockets to hide the shaking.

“I shouldn’t a made the assumptions I did, and I’m sorry for that. It was wrong of me, and I apologize.” It’s a real, genuine apology, but Sammy doesn’t have the energy to process it.

“It’s fine, Troy,” Sammy says, and he almost manages to sound convincing.

Troy frowns slightly. “Alright. I ain’t gonna push. I’ll let you get on home so you can put that milk in the fridge. Take care of yourself, Sammy.”

Sammy watches Troy walk back over to his cruiser. He manages to hold himself together just long enough to get back over to the driver’s side door and watch as Troy drives away before he collapses into the seat, resting his forehead on the steering wheel. His breath hitches, and he shoves his shirt in his face to muffle the sobs that wrack his body.

He’d known it wouldn’t be easy, but _fuck_, he wishes he’d never come to King Falls. The memory of the previous evening flashes before him, the red and blue lights in his rear-view mirror, the way his hands and voice shook as he handed over his ID, Troy’s voice sternly requesting that he exit his vehicle. Sitting hunched on the side of the road, shivering despite the blanket wrapped around him, able to do nothing but watch as the deputy searched his vehicle from fender to fender. Thankfully he’d not brought much from the city, but it still hurt to see the deputy going through his things, through Jack’s things. At least Troy hadn’t said anything when he’d called into the station.

_Fuck_, he misses Jack. Misses his laugh, his smile, the way he’d quietly wrap himself around Sammy when they were alone. _I’ll find you,_ Sammy promises. _I’m not letting go_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I promise that not everything in this series will be this sad.


End file.
